


Take My Hand

by milk09



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, And in loads of denial, Bisexual Harry Potter, Book 4: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Cedric Diggory is pretty and Harry is in a Crisis, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Harry Potter is Confused, M/M, Or attempt at humour???, Yule Ball (Harry Potter), no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-19
Updated: 2020-06-19
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:53:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24802642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/milk09/pseuds/milk09
Summary: Everybody's surprised when Harry Potter brings Cedric Diggory as his date to the Yule Ball, but perhaps none more than Harry himself.orHarry asks Cedric to the Yule Ball, but he did NOT do it because he had feelings for the older boy. Really, hedoesn't. Not even a little bit.
Relationships: Cedric Diggory/Harry Potter
Comments: 24
Kudos: 394





	Take My Hand

**Author's Note:**

> this fic slapped me in the face and told me it was going to write itself and i let it. this was my first in the hp fandom and i would really appreciate your thoughts abt it!  
> anyway i hope u enjoy reading, this was plenty fun to write! x

It’s not like anybody was expecting it. 

It wasn’t out of the ordinary, per se. The Wizarding World was impartial to these types of things; not quite accepting but not condemning either. It certainly couldn’t be called a rarity, in any case. Maybe it was, like in other areas, a situation where the magical community had grown more advanced than their muggle counterparts… Or maybe it was because they were too caught up about blood purity to spare a thought for other areas to discriminate against. 

Whatever the reason, it was less the fact that they were both boys, certainly. 

It wasn’t even because of the fact that they were both champions. Before the Triwizard Tournament had been banned, it wasn’t that uncommon for competitors from the three schools to intermingle in the Yule Ball. It was even encouraged, in a way, to promote conviviality among the students. So no, that’s not why everybody had gasped when they entered or traded questioning glances in the silence that followed. Maybe partially, but that wasn’t the main cause.

It was because of  _ who  _ the champions were. 

Professor McGonagall herself was caught off-guard and had stared for a second—one long second that felt like it was being stretched for hours—until she nodded curtly and continued to herd the champions in a line for their entrance. That felt like her blessing of sorts.

Other people were not so subtle. 

Harry barely had time to look at Hermione, dressed in floaty, periwinkle-blue robes that he could’ve never imagined her using, before the doors of the Great Hall opened and they were led inside by Professor McGonagall to meet the applause of the students. 

“Why didn’t you tell me you were going with Krum?” He tried to hiss inconspicuously, his arm still linked onto Cedric’s as they walked to the top table.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were going with Cedric?” She countered, not looking at him either in an attempt to make their conversation discreet. 

The applause had quieted when the champions and their partners sat down, and the whispers and questioning glances took its place. Was that really the famous (or infamous, depending on who one would choose to ask) Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, going with resident Pretty Boy Cedric Diggory? 

“I knew it!” said a Ravenclaw girl haughtily. “I saw them alone in one of the corridors while I went to Potions, near the courtyard!”

All her friends had flocked to her, and a few strangers who tried not to look like they were eavesdropping. 

“So? What were they doing?” One of them inquired, adjusting her gown as she took a seat. Dinner was about to start after all.

“Spit it out!” Another one urged.

“Alright, alright... Like I said, I was making my way to class, my books in hand, although I didn’t know which one was for Potions so I just carried them all. You know how unbearable Professor Snape is if you’ve forgotten something, and I was already running late because of that whole ovumency experiment Hermes wanted to set up—”

“Oh get on with it, some of us would like to know before Christmas morning!”

“I’m getting to it, I’m getting to it—and I was rushing, but in one of the corridors I passed, I saw them together, really,  _ really  _ close. They were staring directly in each other’s eyes, and their noses were nearly touching, like they were about to—” The girl paused, lowering her voice into a whisper, “— _ kiss! _ ” Her friends gasped, as if they just heard the most scandalous news, and the Ravenclaw simpered at their reaction. 

That was only one of the stories passed around during dinner; suddenly everybody had a tale to tell or something to say about them. Although in Harry’s case that wasn’t anything new, it didn’t mean he had grown to like it.

“With the way they’re staring you’d think we grew three heads.” Harry grumbled under his breath. He may not have noticed it at first, too busy reconciling the Hermione-At-The-Yule-Ball with the Hermione that he saw everyday, but it would’ve been impossible to ignore now.

Cedric bumped his shoulder good-naturedly, making him look up. “That’s what you wanted isn’t it?”

“To grow three heads?” He tried to joke, although he knew what was coming. 

“No, you dolt. To give them something to gawk at!” Cedric laughed.

“Yeah, sure,” Harry agreed unconvincingly, nodding at his untouched plate of seasoned ribs. “Right.”

It wasn’t like he meant to do it. 

Like almost every other thing in his life, it was thrust upon him, without choice and without question; and this time it was in the form of Cedric Diggory. Harry never understood how Ron’s sense of self-preservation and decision making got thrown out of the window every time he saw Fleur, but perhaps he did understand more than he thought. He did, after all, do more or less the same thing Ron had done. 

Cedric had been hanging out with his friends in the courtyard when Harry had seen him. 

The sun was barely peeking from the clouds but he seemed to glow, untouched by the weather; his dark hair was coiffed perfectly, then a laugh broke out of him, out of pink,  _ pink  _ lips with pink cheeks—and Harry couldn’t  _ stand  _ it. Not anymore. Before he knew it, he was approaching him, determined but totally unequipped with a plan. 

“Cedric,” he had called, his eyes looking at his friends warily, some of them still proudly wearing badges on their robes that had already transformed to display ‘POTTER STINKS’ in big green letters. Harry winced internally, his initial confidence already fading. 

He should’ve known by then to stop, but his mouth didn't catch up. “Can I talk to you for a second?” He continued, barrelling through the voice in his head trying to reason him out of it.

“Sure,” Cedric agreed easily, before turning to the others to tell them to go ahead without him. 

Harry had led him from the courtyard to one of the halls, and when they arrived, he took a quick look around to see if anybody was paying attention. It was deserted, to his relief. 

“If it’s about the badges, I keep telling them to take it off but they wouldn’t listen. But I got most of the house to, just not all of them.” 

“What?” Harry's eyes snapped up to meet his, like he was zoning out and only now realized Cedric was still here. His hands were balled into small fists and the tips of his ears were turning pink. Cedric’s brows furrowed in concern.

“Harry, are you feeling alright?” He asked. 

“Y-yes. I’m fine. And thank you, by the way. For telling them to stop wearing the badges.” As if Harry needed any more confirmation on just how bloody nice the other champion was. 

“Don’t mention it. I couldn’t reason with all of them but…” Cedric shrugged, then let out a chuckle. “Who knew Hufflepuffs could be so hard-headed, right? They could give your house a run for their money.”

Harry cracked a smile, finally, but he kept avoiding Cedric’s eyes and didn’t say anything back. What was he doing, dragging a sixth year around without knowing what to say? Why did he even do that in the first place?

There was a pregnant pause where both of them were looking at each other but neither one of them said anything. 

“Harry, wha—”

“Willyougototheyuleballwithme?” Harry said in a rush, all his words muddled together and tripping over each other. As soon as the words left his mouth, he wanted to cram them back inside. What was he thinking? Was he even  _ thinking?  _ He never even thought about asking Cedric before!

“Harry… Are you asking me to be your date at the ball?” Cedric asked after a few seconds, confused. If Harry didn’t lower his eyes to avoid looking at Cedric then, he would’ve seen him equally flustered as he was.

“I—uh, yes? I thought, well since that Skeeter woman had been running her mouth—or her quill, I guess—about us, trying to uncover some deep dark secret, why not give it to her, you know? Just really… stick it to her.” He finished lamely. This was maybe one of the dumbest things he’s ever done, and paired with one of the dumbest excuses he’s ever made. He couldn’t believe it. He was gonna get rejected on a date he didn’t even mean to ask. He mentally prepared himself for the oncoming blow.

“Sure, I guess that... could be fun.” Cedric said. 

Harry released the breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. He was too preoccupied with the fact Cedric  _ didn’t say no(!?)  _ to even notice Cedric’s smile wasn’t as radiant as earlier.

“That’s—That’s brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. Uh, I’ll see you later? Not literally, I still have Divination to go to, but. Yeah. I’ll see you?” Harry said breathlessly after he recovered. He wasn’t rejected technically  _ and  _ he had a date. Merlin. Not what he had in mind but at least he didn’t have to worry about the Yule Ball anymore.

Cedric took a step back and—wait, when did they even get close? 

“Looking forward to it.” Cedric flashed him another one of those smiles, and Harry right now wasn’t at all unlike Ron was with Fleur. He could only nod dumbly as they departed, mind in a daze. His friends had kept sending him weird looks in class that clearly said he should explain his behaviour later, but he didn’t budge. There was a part of his mind that thought he had hallucinated the whole thing, maybe from some inhaled fumes in Potions or some weird plant from Herbology. It was too strange to be real. He didn’t dare breathe a word about it with anyone.

And now they knew why.

The Weird Sisters were already setting up on stage to wildly enthusiastic applause by the time Percy Weasley had stopped bloody chewing his ear off. Harry was so caught up in watching the band that he almost forgot what they were here for, until he looked around and saw all the other people in their table standing up. All the lanterns were put out already, the tables and plates gone.

“Time for the main event.” Cedric smiled as he offered Harry a hand. “Let’s give them a show.” 

“Let’s.” He agreed as he took it, trying to conceal his nervousness with enthusiasm.

The Hall, now a makeshift dance floor, was already starting to pull in the students with their partners, some reluctant, some eager, but all of them waiting for the champions to go first. Harry tensed.

“Relax,” Cedric said, leaning closer to Harry’s ear so he could be heard better. “It’s just a dance. Let’s try to have fun, yeah?” At Harry’s nod, he continued, “Do you want to lead?”

Harry nodded again wordlessly, though he thought Cedric could feel the motion with how close they were pressed together now. He didn’t want to, but he hadn’t been taught how to follow. He let Cedric seize his hands and guide one of them to settle on his waist, the other he intertwined with his own.

The Weird Sisters had started playing a slow, mellow tune. Harry stared determinedly at his feet, both to avoid looking at Cedric and to make sure he wouldn’t step on his toes. If he could just focus on what Professor McGonagall taught them and not on how close he was to Cedric or how warm his palm was in his hand, he would have at least one less embarrassment when all of this was over. 

“What have your shoes done wrong to you?” Harry snapped out of his reverie and to stare questioningly up at Cedric. “You seemed determined to cast them on fire.”

Harry couldn’t help but snort. 

“I’m just making sure I don’t step on your feet...” He mumbled, trailing off with his heart in his throat. He couldn’t look away now even if he tried. The jut of Cedric’s jaw was sharp, smile on his face warm, and his eyes were a sparkling grey. Harry felt at a loss for words. A few strands stood up from his partner’s styled hair and he didn’t know if he wanted his hands there to pat them down or to ruffle them further—a thought that came out of nowhere and hit him like a brick to the head. 

“How lucky of me to have such a kind date, looking out for my well being.” Cedric then teased, looking awfully pleased with himself.

“D-date?” He croaked out. Harry’s heart skipped a beat. And then some.“Right. Yeah.  _ Date _ .” He added conspiratorially. Of course, Cedric was playing along. 

He didn’t know why he felt a tad disappointed at that.

Overall, Harry thought, the dancing went alright. Surprisingly, Cedric was good at following and Harry didn’t suck as much as he feared when it came to leading the dance. The novelty of the two Hogwarts champions going together must have worn off quickly, as there weren’t nearly as many eyes staring at them now that the first dance was over compared to when they made their entrance. 

Harry wasn’t bothered by that at all. He couldn't care any less about Rita Skeeter and whatever schemes she was trying. The whole cover-up he said to Cedric couldn’t be  _ less  _ true. 

He took a seat near one of the tables pushed aside from earlier, so lost in his thoughts he barely noticed the Hufflepuff approaching him until he heard the chair next to him get pulled closer. A few moments of comfortable silence passed. The Weird Sisters had changed their tune from slow to something practically electric. Harry was sure Fred and Angelina were going to injure someone, if not themselves, with the way they were dancing. Everyone was tearing it down on the dance floor. 

Everyone other than him and Cedric, he supposed.

“Do you think this really will appear in the Daily Prophet tomorrow?” He asked Cedric absentmindedly, eyes wandering around the Great Hall. He was finally able to appreciate the decorations set up: snowflakes falling from the ceiling only to evaporate before they touched a hair on anyone’s head; the pillars and gargoyles shining like they were carved out of ice; and the three pine trees standing tall at the end of the room, dusted with the white snow they couldn’t feel. It was breathtaking.

His partner even more so.

“This?” Cedric asked.

“Yeah, this.” Harry gestured to them both, wishing Cedric would get it and not have him do an embarrassing explanation. It was awkward enough to be near the sixth year, let alone explain whatever they were supposed to be.

“Oh. Probably.” Cedric answered, sounding unbothered by the prospect. Then again, maybe he’d already given this some thought after he agreed to be Harry’s date.

“And you’re fine with that?” He prodded. 

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Cedric then flashed him a smile, almost blinding in its charm.  _ He  _ had  _ to be part-veela or something _ , Harry hypothesized. That would explain why Harry couldn’t help but flounder whenever he was around, why his brain turned to a pile of goo and why his heart would beat that much faster.

If that wasn’t the reason… Well, that would suggest Harry had  _ feelings _ for bloody Cedric Diggory, and that was something he did not even want to think about. 

“Don’t you want to dance? I bet plenty of birds want to have a go with you.” He tilted his head to the handful of people staring at his date wistfully, a couple of tables away. “Some of the blokes too.”

“Just tell me if you’re trying to get rid of me, Harry.”

“What? No—! It’s only… Don’t you want to dance? The ball’s not over yet. You can still… uh, dance?” And there it was again. Words didn’t make as much sense with Cedric around.  _ Maybe he was pure veela instead, not quarter or half, _ Harry determinedly continued. No feelings at all. None.

“I do. That’s why I was waiting for you.” Cedric put his hands on his knees and stood up. “If it’s not a bother, would you mind another dance with me?”

“I think we’ve made enough of a scene already, don’t you?” Harry gulped. His hands were getting sweaty. He hurriedly wiped them on his dress robes, even if he said he wouldn’t dance. And he wouldn’t. Really. 

“I don’t think there’s such a thing, Potter.” 

Harry declined again, for good measure—although it sounded weak even to his own ears. Defeated, he let himself be led to the dance floor for the second time that night and tried not to pay any mind to Cedric's hand on his. It didn’t work.

The last strum of an electric guitar sounded through the room. A few of the pairs strolled away; most stayed where they were, the only difference being their change in positions. The leaders had their arms around their partner’s waists and the followers had theirs around the other person’s necks.

“Good evening, Hogwarts… Thanks for letting us shake up your venue and burst out your eardrums tonight.” The lead singer, dressed in torn robes from what Harry could see, had crooned softly on the mic. A few claps followed his statement and Harry belatedly joined. Did they finish performing already?

“I thought you brought us here to dance.” 

“I did.”

“We have one final set for you today… So hold your partner close…” The singer made a signal to his band members and the guitar picked up once more, though this time it was slower, more languid. “This one’s going out to all the lovers out there. Hold each other tight… And keep each other warm...”

“Give me your hands.” 

“What?” He asked as he did what Cedric told him. Cedric took hold of them and put them over his shoulders. His own hands slid onto Harry’s waist. Harry could feel the tips of his ears burning.

“Thought it would be my turn to lead.” He grinned cheekily. At Harry’s silence, he frowned slightly. “This okay?”

“Yes. Yeah. ‘Course.” Harry answered, maybe a little too late. To see Cedric looking at him like that made him feel weirdly like he wanted to both run away from the Great Hall and never look back, or hold him closer and say something stupid like ‘your eyes look like the stars.’ He didn’t like both those options. 

“You can tell me if you don’t want to continue this anymore. It’s fine. Truly. I can go back and get you some punch, if you’d like. We could just talk or I could leave—” 

Harry cut him off by locking his fingers together, resting just below the collar of Cedric’s dress robes. 

“Front page?” He asked cheekily.

“Front page.” Cedric nodded, beaming, and with that grin Harry couldn’t deny anymore. Maybe he did have bloody,  _ cheesy  _ feelings for Cedric Diggory. No veela. No charms. Maybe he just… maybe he just liked him. 

Their last dance didn’t last nearly as much as Harry wanted it to. By the time the lead singer had started saying the goodbyes, Harry’s head was still lying lightly on Cedric’s shoulder. They had stopped swaying and just held each other for a few moments and Harry felt like his heart would beat out of his skin. 

Cedric pulled away first. 

“Do you want to go outside? Cool off?”

He didn’t really want to go outside where there was very real, very cold, very  _ wet  _ snow, but he followed Cedric anyway, because he had  _ feelings _ . Merlin’s balls. They shuffled awkwardly to the entrance hall, through the front doors, the sound of a nearby fountain their only other companion. They winded through paths flanked by bushes, eager not to be overheard by the smattering of other people sitting on benches outside. 

Apparently satisfied with the distance, Cedric stopped walking, and Harry followed suit. He looked nervous, hesitant to speak, and Harry waited.

“This wasn’t the way I planned to tell you.” Cedric said, breaking the silence after a few moments. 

“Tell me what?”

Cedric gave him a look but Harry matched his gaze. Cedric sighed and stared at the direction of the fountain instead. “I didn’t agree to go with you to the ball because I thought it would be fun. I mean, yes, I thought it would be, but if anybody else asked me I would’ve said no. I… I said yes because it was you, Potter. That’s what I’m saying.”

“I barely knew what I was doing the whole time.” Harry admitted. The fairy lights made Cedric’s grey eyes shine and Harry felt embarrassed comparing it to the stars again. “I didn’t even—I didn’t even know.” 

It was quiet again, but it wasn’t as awkward this time. It still was but it felt lighter, a little excited, like they were both waiting for something.

“Do you—… Do you want to come with me to Hogsmeade? This weekend?” Cedric sucked in a breath. 

“Yeah.” Harry answered immediately, almost cutting him off. He didn’t know why Cedric could have thought his answer would be anything but. “Of course.”

“We should head back now.” Cedric said, making no move. He looked like he was in awe, staring down at Harry, and the boy quickly grabbed his hand before he could think twice and led them to the entrance again, retracing their steps.

“Yeah, I guess we should.” He agreed. He held Cedric’s hand that evening when they were dancing, but Harry thought to himself that he liked them loads better like this, intertwined and without prying eyes.

**Author's Note:**

> comments and kudos are appreciated, they give me life. tell me how i've done pls.  
> i might add to this au bc i'm soft for hedric... we'll see
> 
> thank u so much for reading!! x
> 
> songs:  
> can i call you tonight? - dayglow  
> sweet to me - summer salt  
> hot rod - dayglow


End file.
